Mana Storm
A full week had passed since I left the base camp.
At last I stood before a towering rock mountain. The road itself had not been long, yet the monsters that kept crossing my path had stolen far more time than I cared to admit.
I frowned up at the sheer cliffs that clawed at the sky. Midway up the slope, a bank of murky cloud clung stubbornly to the stone, and every so often dark shapes flickered beneath it.
Distance blurred the finer details, but the long bodies and the frantic beat of wings were plain enough.
Not one creature, but many moving together—pack hunters, without a doubt. I slid down from Nightmare’s back and pulled a slab of monster meat from my pack.
The moment the scent hit him, Nightmare drooled and wagged his tail, but this meat was not for him.
“I’ll give you some later. Move.”
He snorted and kept thrusting his muzzle forward. I shoved him aside firmly and began slicing the meat into strips.
These would serve as bait to draw out the Eagle Drakes. Side by side with Nightmare, I began the careful climb.
As if the rocky slopes reminded him of home, Nightmare scaled the steep face with effortless grace. Riding him, I reached the cloud-wrapped midsection in no time. I rubbed my ringing ears and scattered the strips of meat across a suitable ledge.
Nightmare eyed the fallen scraps with open longing, but nothing remained for him just then. I stroked his mane and slipped with him behind a massive boulder.
How long we waited I could not say. By the time the damp wind rolling out of the cloud had soaked my clothes, black silhouettes began to emerge through the haze.
Slit eyes, a sharp yellow beak, a head sheathed in black feathers—all of it called an eagle to mind. Yet the body that followed was pure lizard.
I narrowed my eyes and studied their backs.
Exactly as the guidebook described. Eagle Drakes, no question.
Every one of them was fully grown; the bare, featherless wings rising from their spines left no room for doubt.
They crept out cautiously, snatched the meat in their beaks, and vanished back into the cloud in a hurry.
Hand resting on the hilt of my sword, I fixed my gaze on the one that had ventured farthest. With the others already gone, I could finish this one quickly.
The moment the last Eagle Drake clamped its jaws around a strip of meat, I held my breath and exploded forward.
Legs reinforced by the Emblem of the Great Warrior and a surge of mana slammed against the stone, closing the gap in a heartbeat. Yet the Drake seemed to sense me; its head snapped up.
Those slit eyes locked onto mine. In the same instant it unfurled its wings in a clear threat display.
I scowled and stamped hard, killing my speed so I could correct the empty arc of my blade.
Weight shifted through a sudden change of stance. Using my outstretched leg as a pivot, I poured every ounce of strength into an unstable cut.
Shhhk—!
Starlight coiled around the sword as it sought the Drake’s neck, but the sensation at my fingertips was shallow. The elongated blade of light merely grazed a few scales and sailed past.
The instant I knew the strike had failed, I flowed into the next motion. Starlight hanging in the air stretched like a trailing comet, and a new path opened for the blade.
The steep terrain made balance treacherous, yet I followed the sword’s movement, shifting my body until the supporting leg finally planted firm.
A straight thrust.
The half-turned blade drank starlight until it became a meteor and shot forward. The moment the tip pierced the hard scales, the Eagle Drake’s scream tore free.
[Kreeeeek!]
I had aimed for the throat to silence it, but the unstable footing had thrown the line off. Scowling, I twisted the sword.
Crunch—!
I ground the blade through the wound as if gouging it open, then wrenched it free. Crimson blood fountained across me, but at least the creature’s shrieking cut off.
[Grrrk—]
The Eagle Drake thrashed on the ground in agony.
I bit my lip and looked past it toward the cloud. Pack animals. They would have heard their companion’s pain-filled cry.
Sure enough, more Eagle Drakes began to emerge from the haze, exactly as my grim prediction had warned.
“Damn it…”
Worst-case scenario. One or two I could handle alone, but once the number climbed past ten the story changed entirely.
[Kyaaaak!]
The Drakes that burst from the cloud roared in unison, scattering the murky mist and shaking the entire ridge.
I immediately began altering the nature of my mana. The cold starlight that had clung to my blade shifted, and by the time the Drakes closed in it crackled with blue lightning.
I swept the thunder-wrapped sword in a wide arc.
KRA-KOOM—!
Amplified by the magic stone, the mana erupted into a colossal bolt. Blue fire exploded from the tip and engulfed every Drake charging from every direction. Yet what followed was nothing like I expected.
“What the—?!”
They were unharmed. Their speed never faltered; they did not so much as blink beneath the blue lightning that coated their bodies.
Nothing like this had ever happened before. My mind went blank. Why had the magic failed? Antimagic resistance? Or innate immunity to lightning?
Thud-thud-thud—!
The thoughts never finished. Heavy hoofbeats thundered right beside me, and Nightmare seized the scruff of my neck in his teeth.
My body left the ground and began to shake violently. Kicking my short legs, I twisted and scrambled onto the back of the horse that still held me by the collar.
Situation assessed. Nightmare had charged in to save me from danger. Rather than face the swarm, he had chosen flight.
I glanced back, frowning. His decision was wise, yet the mission required me to recover the corpse of the Drake I had killed.
“Can you go any faster?”
Prrrrh—!
Nightmare answered with a harsh snort. When I pulled the reins he poured on even more speed.
Once he truly began to run, the pursuing Eagle Drakes fell steadily behind.
[Kyaaaaak!]
The cries right at my back grew distant. I immediately wheeled Nightmare around. Changing direction at full gallop on a sheer rock face was reckless, yet he managed the dangerous maneuver as if it were nothing.
The Drakes tried to follow, but only a handful succeeded. The rest, unable to check their own momentum, tumbled end over end down the steep slope.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Even after the turn our speed never dropped, so the gap between Nightmare and the remaining Drakes only widened.
Back at the original ledge I leapt down and, in the same motion, yanked the ornamental crest feather from the fallen Drake’s head. That feather was the entire purpose of the mission.
“Let’s go!”
Feather secured, I vaulted onto Nightmare again. Looking back, I saw the Drakes that had rolled down the mountain already clawing their way back up.
Objective complete; no need to fight them. I tugged the reins and started the descent.
Thud-thud-thud—!
Nightmare never slowed. If anything, he used gravity to push his pace higher.
Thok—! Thud-thud—!
He ran almost as if flying; the intervals between hoofbeats stretched, and a weightless sensation filled my chest.
The freedom did not last. Thanks to Nightmare’s near-falling speed we reached the foot of the great rock mountain in moments.
Boom—!
As he landed and bled off speed I twisted around to check the Drakes. More than ten lizard-shapes still wriggled beneath the murky cloud, but none seemed inclined to come lower.
We had shaken them successfully.
“Whew… You’re not hurt, are you?”
Prrrh—
Nightmare answered my relieved question with a soft snort, then stamped the ground with both fore and hind hooves—perfectly fine.
I tucked the crest feather into the small pouch on the outside of my pack.
Mission accomplished. No reason to linger. I was just about to pull the reins and head back when the cool wind suddenly reversed direction. Following the whip of my hair, I looked up and saw the sky turning a dirty gray.
Rain? I tilted my head—then the murky thunderheads exploded across the heavens in an instant.
The moment the black clouds swallowed the entire forest, the rain began. Fat, heavy drops hammered my skin.
“This is…”
I wiped the water from my face, frowning. The cold rain was thick with mana.
KRA-KOOM—!
The wind howled harder; blue lightning flashed between the clouds. Drenched by the torrential downpour, I yanked Nightmare’s reins.
A sudden, violent shift in weather born of massive mana movement—exactly the warning signs Celion had always drilled into me. The harbinger of a mana storm.
Celion’s words echoed: when the storm comes, find shelter and wait it out.
“Run!”
I hauled on the reins and we tore through the forest. I searched desperately for any place that could shield us until the storm passed, but nothing suitable appeared.
The wind grew fiercer by the second. Small monsters that had been hiding among the trees were ripped from the ground and flung into the sky.
Then the gale surged again. The massive tree right in front of me was torn out by the roots. An instant later my own body lifted. The same weightless feeling I had known racing down the rock mountain returned—only stronger.
The mana storm struck without warning, too fast for any preparation.
I thrashed through the raging tempest and locked my arms tightly around Nightmare as he flailed beside me.